After a lazy summer, October volumes were expected to soar. Reuters, CLS and EBS all benefitted from autumn’s fruitfulness – even FXall reported a record day – to beat September numbers. CME’s season was clouded by Keat’s mist: its number fell slightly on the month.
Thomson Reuters reports average daily FX volumes for October – representing Thomson Reuters Dealing, Matching and Reuters Trading for FX – in excess of $151 billion, roughly 15% up on September, which saw more than $133 billion (More September volumes). This is the second highest monthly volume since they began reporting in April 2009. The record stands at $186 billion in May. Reuters says that strong trading in the commodity currencies of AUD, NZD, CAD, ZAR and MXN helped make it such a voluminous month.
CLS settled a daily average of 805,002 instructions, a 5.5% increase on September’s 762,954. ADV settled in the month was also higher at $4.51 trillion, compared with $4.23 trillion the month before.
On Icap’s EBS platform, ADV was $160.6 billion, again up on September’s $146.8 billion. David Rutter, deputy CEO of Icap, says – with some understatement – it is an “encouraging improvement”.